Missing Nepal

Sarken Dressler made a video of his team's work on House #17 as well as showing some of the other houses. He posted it on youtube.com. After seeing the video, one of our other volunteers, Keith Martin summed up the experience; and it's so well described that it fits all of the volunteers:

 

"What a beautiful and moving video. Thank you so much. Oh, how I miss Nepal: the people, the physical beautiful of the country, my co-workers, everything and everybody. What a richly rewarding and uniquely satisfying experience. I am so thankful I was given the opportunity to make a small contribution toward helping others have a more comfortable life."

 

You can see Sarken with some local children at 2 minutes 27 seconds into the video:

 

Click here>  HABITAT VIDEO, NEPAL 2012

 

About a week later, another video surfaced, from Betsy Uhler who worked on House #11. Our team leader, Leslie Bell wrote about Betsy's video, "That was a whole lot of fun to watch! Thanks for sharing...."

 

Click here>  BUILDING A HOUSE IN 2 MINUTES

 

• Thanks to the creative videographers.
• Your videos are fantastic!
• When can we return to Nepal?

House dedications

The dedications were scheduled for the afternoon and that meant that all of the volunteers on all of the houses were in haste to finish as much as possible in the morning before lunch. For most, it meant more plastering with that favorite :( mixture, priming and painting the window and door frames and general cleanup. At House #2 we did all that.



PAINTING AND PLASTERING

BREAKTIME, THE BEST SEAT IS ON THE
FOUNDATION OF OUTHOUSE

HOUSE #2 TEAM BEFORE THE DEDICATION

And finally, the dedication. Of course, much appreciation from the homeowner who aplplied a tika on the forehead of each team member, and a marigold lei around their necks.

CHUCK GETS THE TIKA AND RESPONDS BY PRESSING
HIS PALMS TOGETHER AND SAYING, NAMESTE.

EACH TEAM MEMBER SIGNED THE PRESENTATION BANNER,
HOMEOWNER SPONSOR (L) AND HOMEOWNER (R)

Cluster leaders

The houses were divided into three clusters and the assigned cluster leaders were a tremendous help to the house leaders and team members. They answer questions, made sure that supplies were on hand and a multitude of other tasks. They made the build run smoothly. Never included in the House group photos, here they are:

AT THE DHULIKEL LODGE:
CLUSTER #1 LEADER, JEREMY AND
CLUSTER #2 LEADERS, VIC AND LAURA

HOLDING A MEETING IN THE LUNCH TENT:
CLUSTER #3 LEADER, STAN (CENTER)

Last day -- Friday

It has been such an incredible week. We came here to help some Napeli families and in turn we are gratified by the experience. Something like: the families have needs to improve their living situations, but each of us also have our own needs to give to others.

All this was realized over the past week.

It is now 2 days after our house dedications. Internet is so very slow and photos, of which there are many, take too long to upload. Please be patient. More posts to come and photos too!

For the next 10 days, no Internet, or maybe limited, during my travel in the mountain country of Bhutan.

Updates to be posted as Internet available.

Jeremy's pics

Cluster # 1 leader, Jeremy, shares some of his photos:

Thursday, the fourth day

The morning sunrise over the
mountains was today's greeting:

More of the same work ongoing. Some houses have begun the roofs and others are finishing up the plastering. House 16 had a resuffle on its crew and seven people were moved to this house. It is one of the largest being built and desperately needed more crew on site.

An updated group photo was taken.


HOUSE # 16, HOUSE LEADER, BOB

Getting to House 16 requires a short uphill trek which winds around a pond. Toads are frequently spotted in the pond, but on this day, local folks had the water buffalo cooling off in the pond. How incredible is this! Seven water buffalo out for a swim! As the animals were approached, a woman owner called to her 3 animals and they moved closer to where she was sitting at shoreside.

WALKING THE BUFFALO HOME

Back on the worksite:


PLASTER WALLS AND RICE FIELD VIEW

FIVE PLASTERING PAULINES

Roof work: bamboo poles will hold up the metal roof. Nepalise skilled workers, on site, and doing the high rooftop work.

STRETCHING ACROSS FOR STABILITY

Donor appreciation

At a dinner Wednesday evening, at the Kathmandu Everest Hotel, affiliate sponsors were recognized for their much appreciated participation in making Everest Build II a large success.

In between the award giving, those present were engaged with a game of "keep passing the ball, but keep it in the air", and two other similar games.

Final award was for years of service in southeast Asia and particularly in Nepal. This was presented to our team leaders, Bob and Leslie Bell. We all you applaud you for your enthusiasm and for your support of the work of Habitat Nepal.



LESLIE BELL AND BOB BELL (R)
ACCEPT THIS AWARD FOR THEIR
OUTSTANDING LEADERSHIP AND SERVICE.